WDC boosted their buyback program by $1.5 billion today, which last for 5 years. I wouldn't be surprised to see them use it up much sooner, and extend this buyback program after June results.
They also changed their listing from NYSE to Nasdaq, which probably suits them better. Really like to see them come out with a nice dividend this quarter. They have the revenues and EPS to generate $18 billion a year in revenues with $11 in EPS.
New buybacks could retire another 35 to 45 million shares. That's really not the biggest priority for them since they are limited to 260 million shares already. They need a dividend to demonstrate their vastly improved revenues structure since they bought Hitachi's disk drive division last quarter.
If they initiated a 25% payout ratio like STX did back in January this June, that would be at least a $2 dividend. With or without the dividend, the accelerated growth in revenues and EPS still make the stock a good entry point again near $36. |
